An Ohio man has been tentatively selected to be the creator for a new sculpture of Ohio native Thomas A. Edison for Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Alan Cottrill of Zanesville was selected from a group of Ohio artists that answered a request from the Ohio Statuary Hall Commission seeking a proposal of an Edison statue to put in place of Gov. William Allen, who was a supporter of slave owners.

Cotrill said it was exciting to hear the announcement that his rendering of Edison holding a lightbulb won the competition.

“It’s a career-making honor that a piece of mine is going to be there representing Ohio for decades, and probably centuries, is just a huge thrill,” Cottrill said.

Cottrill was picked over two other finalist Thomas Lingeman of Perrysburg and Emanuel Enriquez of Bowling Green.

The University of Findlay graduate said he set out to conduct as much research as possible to portray Edison as best he could.

“I did a lot of talking to descendants, visiting his birth place, feeling the man. So that then I could inject a piece with that energy which he had in life,” Cottrill said.

Cottrill was a late bloomer in the art world. He first picked up a piece of clay at the age of 38. But most of his friends were art professors or artists themselves. Cottrill served in the U.S. Army and held a job as a truck driver before pursuing art full time.

The 62-year-old Cottrill has made some 500 figurative statues; 100 are on display across the country.

The state, the Architect of the Capitol and the Joint Committee on the Library of Congress still must approve Cottrill as the sculptor for the privately funded Edison project.

The Goodale Park rally came days after civil unrest following the shooting death of an unarmed teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown’s death has led to an uproar for the release of the name of the officer involved in the shooting.

Authorities are expected to release the officer’s name on Friday.

Ohio State graduate Brook Butler organized the rally. It included a moment of silence.

Butler has a young brother she fears for everyday. She says police departments have become militarized.

“The police need to be de-militarized. The fact that they have the weaponry that they use on citizens doesn’t sit well with me,” said Butler.

The head of Common Cause Ohio, Samuel Gresham says history is repeating itself. He says the Columbus rally is the first of several others planned in Ohio. He says racial violence often results from fear.

For the past 10 summers the Columbus Police have changed tactics to reduce violent crime and gang activity. It's called the Community Safety Initiative. Special groups of police officers patrol high crime neighborhoods.

For the past 10 summers, Columbus Police have changed tactics to reduce violent crime and gang activity. It’s called the Community Safety Initiative. Special groups of police officers patrol high crime neighborhoods.

The program was started by Mayor Michael Coleman in 2004. During the summer, some Columbus police offices are broken off into groups of ten. Each group focuses on a specific neighborhood. They get to stay in that area. They get to know its streets, its people. Commander Mark Lang says the officers become part of the neighborhood.

“They are able to be in the area and not have to leave all the time to go answer other runs and really focus on the problems people and the problems location in their part of town,” says Lang.

Weinland Park is one of the target neighborhoods. Violence and gang activity have plagued its residents for years.

“A lady around the corner; the kids were playing on the sidewalk and she pulled a gun on them. These children are between five and ten. And they were on the sidewalk,” says Mitchell.

Mitchell has a seven-year-old son.

“Police didn’t do anything about it. They just questioned her. So I have an issue with that, so now my children stay in front of my house.”

Mitchell worries about safety, but she refuses to move.

Neighbor Megan Mathis has lived in Weinland Park on and off for the past 10 years. She says the neighborhood has improved, but there’s still work to be done.

“I woke up to a gun shot at about 5 am, it was just a single shot, so there’s still that element in the neighborhood,” says Mathis.

Another Weinland Park neighbor who did not want to be identified said he saw thieves steal a car in front of his house. He did not call police in fear of retaliation.

Donte Brooks has lived in his Weinland Park house for 45 years and says he’s seen progress.

“I think especially with the Short north posse being dispersed or put away or whatever happened to them that made a big difference,” says Brooks.

The ‘Short North Posse’ is a gang formed in the 90′s that police say recently tried to regroup. Earlier this summer in the largest federal murder indictment in Ohio history, prosecutors charged 17 alleged gang members with using violence to intimidate and extort victims and witnesses.

City-wide, police say crime has decreased the past few years. Murders have gone down from 105 in 2011 to 90 last year.

“We hope as we focus on the gang members, on the people who are responsible for the kind of crime that are most shocking to our community, those are the kind of crimes that we hope we are having the biggest impact on,” says Lang.

Mayor Coleman says it’s important the initiative adapts from year to year.

“It’s a matter of changing strategy every year. And because as the division of police has a tactic and a strategy, the gangs and the bad folks in our communities figure it out and they adjust.” says Coleman.

The police department collects feedback from communities and officers assigned to the area to adjust for the next year.

A new study projects a half-million population growth for Central Ohio by the year 2050.

The study, conducted by Calthorpe Asociates provides data and tools to evaluate growth in Central Ohio to help local leaders make informed choices for future growth and development.

William Murdock from the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission says planning now will make future development easier.

â€œWhat weâ€™re seeing early on is to accommodate market demand could have real impact on infrastructure spending, the types of housing and the types of development that weâ€™re going to see in central Ohio,â€ said Murdock.

This kind of growth will create greater demand. The preliminary findings show there will be a high demand for single-family housing and walkability distance to work.

Calthorpeâ€™s Joseph DiStefano believes it is vital to plan for the consequences of growth.

â€œFrom our perspective itâ€™s important to plan for that growth and to understand its implications,â€ said DiStefano.

The study also predicts about 300 thousand new jobs in Central Ohio by 2050.